Zynga has had a rough few months. The once high-flying social games company has stumbled after it posted disappointing earnings in July. Since then, the San Francisco-based company has lost top executives and had its stock price plunge. The firm… Continue Reading →

Zynga has had a rough few months. The once high-flying social games company has stumbled after it posted disappointing earnings in July. Since then, the San Francisco-based company has lost top executives and had its stock price plunge. The firm that was once valued more than Electronic Arts has fallen on rough times.

If the developer wants to turn things around, it will have to start with FarmVille 2. The sequel to the genre-defining social game naturally has high expectations and even more hopes riding on it. I had a chance to look at it during a demonstration last week. The game launches today. You can check it out here.

“It’s a place you can create a living, breathing world,” said creative director Mike McCarthy and that starts with FarmVille 2’s fiction. Yes, there’s a narrative involved albeit a simple one. McCarthy calls it the “traditional farm story,” where players get a postcard saying that the ancestral plot has seen better days. The missive urges you to come back and fix it up.

Welcome to your new farm. It’s all done in polygons putting the world in a new perspective.

A NEW LOOK AND NEW PHILOSOPHY: And that’s how your avatar arrives to her land in FarmVille 2. Immediately, the first improvement players will notice is that the sequel is more vibrant. Instead of sprites, the game uses polygons. It still retains that cartoony look but it looks more polished, more modern and more real as you command your avatar to plant crops and harvest them.

The new game’s overriding philosophy is that the developer wanted everything to be focused on the farm. The screen will rarely leave what is going on in the fields. “We wanted everything to be rooted to the game board,” McCarthy said. That translates to a new level of fidelity. Items don’t magically pop into existence. Crops don’t automatically yield coins.

Players will have to work for it of course and manage an ecosystem that’s based on water. That’s going to be the “energy” that will determine how quickly your crops grow. But building off that, the crops can be used to feed your animals and those critters create products for you. For example, corn can be used as feed for hens and those hens will lay eggs. Those eggs can be sold or they can be ingredients for items such as a apple scones. In another instance, taking care of cows with hay means that they can produce milk and cheese for other pastries. It’s the circle of farm life.

A new control scheme uses a sweep motion so that players can quickly harvest crops instead of clicking on every individual square. It’s looks like a smart improvement.

SWEEPING INSTEAD OF CLICKING: When it comes to the control scheme, the biggest change is that players no longer have to click on specific crops to plant, water and harvest. Instead, FarmVille 2 uses a sweep mechanic that lets players paint across the game board to collect crops. All players have to do is drag the pointer over crops and their avatar will zip down the rows working. It seems a lot easier than clicking on every single row of corn.

From the looks of it, the sweep gesture using the mouse would dovetail nicely into a touchscreen game. When I mentioned this to executive producer Maureen Fan, she said, “The company strategy is to go multiplatform. I would keep your eyes peeled.” That’s a hint if I ever heard one.

Players can now make dishes out of the materials they harvest.

HOW TO MAKE COINS: While water from a well is the energy that determines how fast crops grow (It refills over time.), the market stall in front of the farm is the place where players sell the goods to passers-by. The coins you earn there can be used for decorations to add personality to the old place. Players can hang a hammock or spruce up the yard with fountains. If they need more money, FarmVille 2 does have the aforementioned crafting system where players can cook food for sale.

But there is a caveat: Those expecting to make hamburgers out of their cows or chicken tenders out of their hens will be disappointed. Players won’t be slaughtering their farm animals. Horses won’t make glue either. “The game is vegetarian,” Fan said. “It’s about nurturing your farm. There are no GMO crops. It’s good and wholesome like a 1950s farm.”

To help players sell food, they have an ally in the town square. There’s a business owner named Cornelius who runs the Village Grocery. He takes a look at your farm and sees what produces run in excess. From that, he creates an order form and if players are able to fulfill it, he can honor the order and get players good deals. It’s another way of making money.

You can invite friends over to help on your farm. They arrive on the truck and sit on those haystacks until you delegate a job or direct them.

GETTING FRIENDS INVOLVED: Lastly, FarmVille 2 wouldn’t be a social game if it didn’t get acquaintances involved. Of course, players will get random neighbors dropping by, but they can also hire people they’re friends with on Facebook or Zynga.com. The friends’ avatars show up on a truck and sit on haystacks. (Those who are on at the same time will see the guest drop in immediately.)

Players can control them directly, commanding their friends’ avatars to pick apples or grab horse shoes that horses produce. They can even delegate work to speed up the process.

Unfortunately, Zynga isn’t changing up how people are invited to FarmVille 2. Soon, we’ll all be inundated with invitations to join the game in our status feeds. But seeing how the sequel is shaping up, it may be worth a try when the game is launched today.

The game’s future may be in the distance.

BONUS POINTWhat about the first game? So there’s not going to be any incentive for players of the first to jump over the second. The two games will coexist independently. With five official expansions since it launched in 2009, Zynga plans on keeping the original alive.What’s in store? When I was talking with Fan and McCarthy, they mentioned creating a bigger world in FarmVille 2. With that said, they pointed out the hills and the village in the distance. They said they plan on making it a social hub of sorts where players can meet each other. They hinted at big events like county fairs and carnivals. But that seems to be in the future and no other solid details were given.